Tokyo’s Museum Scene — Part 3: The Underground Museums
Tired of TeamLab’s newest art installation or of Roppongi’s top-notch galleries? This third and last article of the Tokyo’s Museum Scene series gives you a list of those hidden museums, less famous than the ones discussed in the first and the second articles. Those are my personal picks, the ones that I found most inspiring. If you are into more intimate experiences, off the beaten track, those museums might be for you. Also check the end of the article for information on how to enter many of Tokyo’s museums for free!
The Showa-kan — 昭和館
The Showa-kan or National Showa Memorial Museum is a history museum that immerses you in Japan during the war and post-war period. Showa is the name of the era than span from 1926 to 1989, when Japan was under the reign of Emperor Hirohito. For most people however, referring to “the Showa era” is likely to remind people of the late 1930s, 40s and early 50s, therefore the militarization of Japan, World War II and the subsequent American occupation of the country. This is precisely the content of the museum’s permanent exhibition.
The exhibition is visual and audible. Its two floors display many items and songs of the era to recreate the atmosphere. More, some miniatures, videos and even a sort of video game aim to further enhance the immersive experience. Instead of reading signs, the museum offers an audioguide to its visitors with three choices: Japanese, simple Japanese and English. The English one is a translation of the simple Japanese audio that was made for schoolchildren. If you understand a little bit of Japanese, you can try to listen to those recordings, and change to English if you get tired.
The Showa-kan does not have an English website but a PDF explaining the basics about their museum and offering a transcript of the audioguide explanation. The entrance price is really cheap (150 yens for university students, 300 for adults) and the audioguide is free. This museum offers a very interesting and relatively apolitical approach on history by focusing on the people and daily life experiences. The era of focus remains nowadays very controversial in East Asia because of the sentiment that Japan has not been enough apologetic about its crimes, but the museum does not raise those issues. It remains an excellent and memorable introduction to the social history of Japan’s darkest era.
The Showa-kan is right outside Kudanshita Station. Take the Hanzomon Line, the Shinjuku Line or the Tozai Line to get there.
Mitsuo Aida Museum — 相田みつを美術館
Mitsuo Aida (1924–1991) was a famous calligrapher and poet. This museum that was founded a few years after he passed away displays a collection of his calligraphies, beautiful for both their style and their poetic and philosophical content.
A certain understanding of Japanese is an undeniable plus to appreciate this exhibition, but not a must. Indeed, there are many signs in English that offer a translation of Aida’s writings, and besides his style is relatively simple. He often prefers few words, simple kanjis and hiraganas to complex sentences. As a result, his works are enjoyable also by non-Japanese readers and beginners. Phones are not allowed within the museum, but if you explain that they will probably allow you to take it out if you need to check your Japanese dictionary.
The Mitsuo Aida Museum is an inspirational space full of wisdom and peace. My favorite poem from the exhibition is the one on the picture above, 夢はでっかく、根はふかく, “Big dreams, deep roots.” The English page on the museum website gives some details about Aida’s biography and motivations to do calligraphy. The exhibition is quite expensive (800 yens) but definitely worth the try to enjoy some introspective journey through Mitsuo Aida’s poems.
The Mitsuo Aida Museum is located inside the Tokyo International Forum building. Tokyo Station and Yurakucho Station are the two closest options. The Yamanote Line, the Yurakucho Line, the Chuo Line, the Marunouchi Line and many others lead to one of those two stations.
Amuse Museum — アミューズミュージアム
The Amuse Museum has a lot of things on display. This very heterogeneous museum offers a permanent exhibition about northern Japan pre-modern clothing, the boro. An exhibit surprisingly interesting as it explains with a good amount of details the history and the もったいない (too good to waste) philosophy behind the clothes. The exhibition then continues with a confusing lot of rooms, items and clothes. Then another exhibit that is displayed on stairs up to the last floor is about ukiyoe, those famous Japanese woodblock prints. While depicting a good amount of those prints including many famous ones, the most interesting part is a video in a small room of the last floor that analyzes in depth a few ukiyoe, offering very insightful comments on the cultural and social background behind some of the works.
If you are not convinced yet, the Amuse Museum also has a rooftop that offers one of the best views on Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Situated just next to it, the Amuse Museum can be an interesting stop to discover some quite random things about Japan and to enjoy the view. The museum has good English explanations inside and on its website. The entrance is expensive (1000 yens for adults, 850 for university students), but read up to the end of the article to know how to enter there for free.
To reach the Amuse Museum, take the Asakusa Line, the Tobu Skytree Line Ginza Line to Asakusa Station, walk up to Sensoji Temple and look on your right.
Asakura Museum of Sculpture — 朝倉彫塑館
Apart from being very charming neighborhoods, Nezu and Yanaka are home to many interesting and small art museums and galleries, especially around the area of Yanaka 6 chôme (in Japan house blocks, called chome, all have numbers and are named after the neighborhood they are part of). Walk North from there and you will arrive at the Asakura Museum of Scupture. This museum is another one dedicated to the life and work of one man, the sculptor Fumio Asakura sometimes referred to as the “Rodin of Japan.”
The Asakura Museum building itself is interesting. It was originally Asakura’s house and studio, and later became a school of sculpture where he taught. The visit starts from the studio where many of his works are exhibited, and continues to his beautiful house that he built circling around a Japanese style garden and pond. Staffs from the museum are there to guide you around (for free) and give you little anecdotes about the works and the place, unless you prefer walking around by yourself. I recommend trying the guided tour for they are very friendly and fun — and they do not join when you go to the second floor and the rooftop anyway.
Pictures are not allowed in the museum, but they are fine on the roof. There you can enjoy a view of the quiet Yanaka, a particularly enjoyable spot during hanami (cherry blossom) season. It costs 500 yens to come inside, the English (and French!) information are all well written and so is the museum website. For people curious about sculptures, or simply walking around the neighborhood and looking for some beautiful artworks, architecture and view.
The closest station to the Asakura Museum is Nippori on the Yamanote Line, the Joban Line and many other lines including the ones going to Narita Airport.
List to be continued…
Now here is a great tip if you are interested about Tokyo’s museums. There is a pass called the Grutto Pass that costs 2200 yens and gives you free or discounted access to most of the museums. All the museums I mentioned in this article for example are free with this pass, except the Mitsuo Aida Museum for which only the temporary exhibition is, if using the pass there. I am not sure why, but it seems that not that many people know about this pass.
You can purchase it in any of the partner museums, art galleries and other attractions and you can use it for two months. I have been using it two times already, and I can say that not only is it a money saver, but it also helped me discover so many new places around Tokyo. The English list of the 92 partner facilities is a bit unintuitive, but it gives the list by area so you can use it to plan several museum visits in a day.
I hope those three articles have been useful! They will certainly be modified in the next years, especially this last one, as I discover new interesting museums around Tokyo. I am also glad to receive recommendations, so feel free to get in touch with me.
This article is part of a series aiming to present Tokyo’s museum scene. From pulsating cultural centers to hidden peripheral rooms, there are dozens of incredible museums to visit and hundreds of permanent and temporary exhibitions for everyone’s taste. These articles are meant to be an introduction for tourists to find their personal must-go picks, and for locals to discover new places and enjoy their time exploring the amazing city of Tokyo.
